The World Bank Needs $11 Billion Dollars To Keep Functioning According to Its President

According to president Robert Zoellick, the World Bank "will face serious constraints" by the middle of next year, and will need a capital injection of over $11 billion dollars in order to properly function.

The World Bank is an international lending institution that provides loans to poor nations and promotes "sustainable private sector investment in developing countries as a way to reduce poverty".

The World Bank depends on capital from its "shareholders" (or member countries) in order to continue to function.

World Bank shareholders include the United States, Japan, Germany and France.

The Bank, according to Zoellick, has had to shell out so much money over the past few years to poorer countries that their own accounts now are running dangerously low.

This leaves the Bank in the unenviable position of needing to ask "shareholders" for additional funds at a time when many "richer" countries are dealing with their own recession-inspired problems.

For instance, I can't imagine that the United States will be very forthcoming with any additional funds, considering that they are going to run a nearly $2 trillion dollar deficit in 2009.